Pick Your Poison - Scotia Beats Averill Park in Every Way

 

Dan Zeglen with the completion. Dan Zeglen with the completion. Dan Zeglen with the completion. Sick of it yet? I know AP was.

Scotia-Glenville 49, Averill Park 20

Dan Zeglen.

Anything you need, him and his boys would handle business. He helped lead the Tartans to touchdowns on their first 4 drives to break this afternoon game open and get some momentum carried forward into sectionals.

The game started on the contrary though, with Averill Park getting the ball to start and driving up the field, resulting in a 5 yard TD run by Isaiah Moak to put the visitors up 6-0. Scotia responded with an efficient drive of their own which ended with Zeglen hitting Ire Pinney with a 7 yard TD pass, evening it at 6 in the middle of the 1st. When AP punted it away and pinned Scotia at their own 13, it was Zeglen leading the way again. The highly regarded QB went 4/4 for 82 yards on the drive (57 to Marty McCollum, 25 to Pinney) and Pinney ended it with a 6 yard sprint to make it 12-6. The next time Scotia got the ball back, it'd only take 3 plays and about a minute to extend the lead - a 33 yard completion to McCollum set up the same connection from 14 yards out to bump it to 20-6 approaching midway through the 2nd quarter. The Warriors cut into it with an Isaiah Moak run up the gut on 4th & 5 that turned into a 40 yard TD burst, making it 20-12. The Tartans responded again - this time the yards were all on the ground. Despite 3 incompletions, McCollum was able to spring them forward again. On 3rd & 10, McCollum took an end around, made a couple moves, and broke loose a 40 yard TD run of his own to make it 27-12.

Marty McCollum said night night with the stiff arm. Bless you, my son!

The 2nd half started with something tame: a Scotia punt. Weird. Averill Park used a couple more big Moak runs to break inside the S-G 10, but he was stuffed on 4th & 1, turning it over on downs at the 5. Scotia broke loose an 11 play, 95 yard drive over 4 minutes to run it to 35-12. Zeglen connected on all 3 of his pass attempts for 52 yards while running for 26 yards on 3 carries. On 1st & goal, Nick DeGraff went in basically untouched from 7 yards out. Averill Park tried to take to the air consistently for the first time on the ensuing drive, and it worked. Brandon Cellucci hit completions of 44 and 34 yards, the 2nd being a touchdown to an open Lance Woodard on 3rd & 25. The conversion made it 35-20 at the end of the 3rd quarter. I sound like Milli Vanilli at the Grammys... but instead of 'Girl you know it's...' it's 'Scotia touchdown, Scotia touchdown, Scotia touchdown'. Well, it happened again. On the 6th play of the drive, it was Nate Correll who ran it 30 yards to paydirt to make it 42-20. They got it right back when Cellucci threw a pick on the 1st play of Averill Park's drive, and a 26 yard return set the Tartans up at AP's 36. On 4th & 17 from just outside the AP 17, Zeglen hit Jonathan Clark in the front corner of the end zone after a rollout to the right, and the PAT brought us the final score at 49-20. AP had the ball twice more, which ended in a punt & INT, and Scotia fumbled it away once and took a knee in the final seconds.

Brandon Cellucci getting a little daylight - if that's what you want to call it - to let one fly in the 1st half.

#ByTheNumbers - Dan Zeglen. Marty McCollum. Can a brotha get a Amen? Zeglen went 17/23 for 274 passing yards and 3 TDs, along with grabbing 53 yards on the ground on 16 carries. McCollum had 266 total yards - 76 rushing on 4 carries and a TD, and 10 receptions for 190 yards and a TD that way as well. He also picked off the final AP pass of the day. Ire Pinney had 6 carries for 28 yards and 4 catches for 47 with TDs in both. I had wondered why Isaiah Moak wasn't getting too many touches for Averill Park this year, and he showed why he should get more in this one. The junior had 15 carries for 126 yards and a pair of TDs - they may have lost by a lot, but he did stand out. Brandon Cellucci went 4/10 in the air for 107 yards, a TD and 2 picks, and he had 17 keepers out of the option for 43 yards.

You're not going to win many games giving up 49 points - and you're not going to lose many scoring that much. They picked a bad time to let their opponent unload on them, and it won't get any easier - Queensbury is waiting in sectional quarterfinals. Scotia looks to keep the high octane flowing in quarterfinals against Bishop Maginn, a team AP lost to a few weeks ago but had every chance to win. Everyone's record is 0-0 now though, let's see who brings it!

DeGraff scored so we'll give him a pic too